Driver-related issues dominated the Top Industry Issues report, recently released by the American Transportation Research Institute, a trucking industry not-for-profit research organization.
This annual report identifies the industry’s key concerns, and the top five issues for 2021 were as follows:
- Driver shortage
- Driver retention
- Driver compensation
- Lawsuit abuse reform
- Lack of available truck parking
More than 2,500 trucking industry stakeholders participated in this year’s survey, including motor carriers, drivers, industry suppliers, driver trainers, law enforcement and others.
Nearly 25% of the survey respondents were professional truck drivers and among driver respondents, driver compensation and truck parking tied for the number one industry concern. Detention / Delay at Customer Facilities was ranked by drivers as their second most pressing concern.
Notably, the diesel technician shortage made the top 10 list for the first time this year, ranking tenth.
“It really is no surprise that truck driver-related issues – notably the driver shortage and driver retention – ranked so high on the survey. Coming out of the pandemic, with the increased demand for goods and other pressures on the supply chain, getting and keeping drivers has been a real challenge industrywide,” said ATRI President and COO Rebecca Brewster. “We also see the impacts of the current supply chain crunch in how highly issues like driver compensation, truck parking, infrastructure and driver detention ranked on the list.”
